By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
The celebration of May Day, with baskets filled with colorful flowers, is in full swing along the Pamlico River this week.
Homes and businesses around Washington are sporting arrangements of petunias, marigolds, vinca, daisies, lilies, ivy and other assorted flowers and greenery.
The Washington Garden Club and the Washington Area Historical Foundation are sponsoring May Day on the Pamlico, according to club member Mary Paulson.
Even boat owners, churches and government offices are encouraged to help brighten Washington with spring blossoms for the occasion, Paulson added.
And May baskets don’t even have to be brimming with fresh flowers. A colorful arrangement — in shades of hot pink, lime green and yellow — created by The Blythe House adorns the door of the Washington Visitor Center.
In keeping with the theme, Beaufort-Hyde-Martin Regional Library will host a children’s story time for those ages 3 and 4 on Wednesday, beginning at 10 a.m. Lynn Borrie will read “The Flower Garden” by Eve Bunting, and each child will make a May basket to take home. Call 252-946-6401 for more information.
In a further celebration of the season, the Washington Garden Club will hold its annual herb sale Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the North Carolina Estuarium.
And the Estuarium will hold its own event May 8 for children 5 to 12 years old. From 10 to 11 a.m., youngsters are invited to take a nature walk and plant their own May basket, with supplies provided by the Washington Garden Club. There is a $2 program fee per child, and preregistration is necessary; to sign up, call 252-948-0000.
May Day was originally a celebration honoring Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. The festivities evolved and later included a Maypole dance and the making of colorful May baskets to leave as a surprise for friends and neighbors.